Foot corrective shoe construction



April 2,1935. E. M. SABIST ON ET AL 1,996,215

' FOOT CORRECTIVE SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 19, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l 16 Emhims firm/1475512922712 Hams 2025751 April 2, 1935. E. M. SABISTON ET AL FOOT CORRECTIVE SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed Decfl9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

113215177 03 IP15 52171511717 771M592 [heifer QUNITED s T constructionof the insole of a shoe during con-,

Patented Apr. 2, 1935 as PA-TENT orgies roo'r conanc'rrvs suoa CONSTRUCTION Eric Moorhouse Sabiston and Thomas" Augustus Chester, Perth,

Perth Shoe Company, (intario, Canada vApplication Ontario, Canada, assignors to Limited, Lanark County,

December 19, In Canada April 20, 1932 1932, Serial No. 648,020"

1 Claim. (oi. sa-'11).

This invention relates to foot corrective shoe construction and has particularly to. do with the struction.

A great many appliances are employed for insertion in shoes to correct weakness and deflciencies of the foot. These appliances are naturally somewhat cumbersome and do not properly I It is, therefore, an object of I cooperate with a shoe which, in the first place,

' is'notbuilt for such devices. In a great many cases, theseappliances are used in an effort to correct the foot but, generally, nothing is em-s ployed, with' the result that the sole of theshoe som c'onsistentlyworn incertain areas and the shoe invariably loses its shape. v

the present invention'to: so build-the shoe in construction to adapt it to naturallycorrect weakness or deficiencies ofthe foot and thus obviate consistent wear upon certain areas of the sole and heel and to avoid,

---'to a large ertent, causing the shoe to lose its A furtherobject of the invention is to provide 1 ashoe construction which will give greater ease A further object of the invention ism so shape the insoleduring construction as to correct the deficiencies of the foot and provide shoes whichmay be properly-fitted on the wearer to correct particular troubles. With these and other objects in view, the i 'vention consists essentially in the shaping of the insole during the construction of the shoe so as to form one side of the insole thickerthan the other side, the surface of the sole being tapered from one side to the other to a greater or less degree according to the amount of correction desired.

The insole may-be made in the form of a single piece of leather which is skived off "to give the.

desired result or the shaping of the insole may be accomplishedby placing substantially wedgeshaped' pieces alongu'the side of the insole on whichever side is necessary, the added pieces being of leather, fibre, rubber or any suitable' material, applied preferably to the forward part ofthe'sole' or to the heel area thereof. On the other hand, to provide a more complete and better finished product, this latter mentioned manner of forming the sole may be improved by splitting the insole to a point in the shank area thereof and-applying the added-piece or pieces of 7 material between the split portions, securely fastening them to the lower of these split portions and then cementing the upper section down inv 1 Referring to the place. The forward portionalone of the sole may be splitii it is only requiredto add to the forward area of the shoe and, similarly, the rear end only may be split for an insertion on the heel .area, but, on the other hand, both areas may be split to provide additions on the. forward portion of the sole and on the heel as well. In any of the constructions, either theheel area or the forward area of the sole may be treated or both areas may; be treated according to the foot troubles-it is desired to correct, as more fully described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form part of the same. v p I drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of an insole. employed according to a the present invention, wherein the insoleis skived off-to. form a wedge-shaped member.

Figure 2 is 'a fragmentary cross section of a shoe showing this insole built in the shoe.

Figure-3 is a perspective view of an insole upon which added pieces of leather are secured to .cor rect" the footof the wearer in a similar manner to the flrstshowing. I p

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross section showing the insole according to Figure 3 built inthe shoe.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of an insole upon which aresecured added-pieces of leather in a similar manner to Figure3, the insole being split forwardly and rearwardlyup to the shankarea, the additions beingmade between the split portions of the sole. v

Figure 6 is a fragmentary cross section showing the insole according to Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a perspective view similar to Figure 5 with split portions of the sole. indifferent position to illustrate the placement of asupporting padfor themetatarsal arch.

: indicates aninsole for a shoe. under construction having'the forward area. Hi, shank area I l and heel area I2.

According to the invention, this sole is formed thicker on one side l3 than its opposite side It,

as more particularly illustrated in Figure 2. To

provide this structure, the sole is preferably skived off or otherwise processed to form a wedge-shaped piece and this will serve to correspondingly throw the foot of the wearer towards one side rather than the other to correct certain deficiencies in thefoot- Depending upon the particular weakness or deficiencies to be corrected, the sole is accordingly constructed. For instance, it may be desirable to maintain the thickened portion l3 throughout the length of the sole but, on the other hand, it may only be necessary to maintain this thickened portion either in the forward area I or heel area I 2 so that, in this case, only the forward area ID or heel area I! would be formed with a thickened portion.

A further manner of accomplishing the desired results is illustrated in Figure 3 wherein the sole B is provided with added pieces of material I5 and I6 applied to the forward area II] or heel area I! of the sole. These pieces of material I5 and it are formed thicker on one edge than the other and areskived oil or processed so as to provide a wedge-shaped structure, as clearly illustrated in Figure 4; the upper area of one edge of the piece l5 gradually merges into the upper surface of the sole B.

While the additions have been shown in the drawings as applied to both the sole area and the heel area, it may be necessary in some cases to apply an addition only to the forward area III or only to the heel area II, in which case one of the additions shown is omitted.

In a structure according to Figure 3 of the drawings, that is one in which additional material is mounted on the upper surface of the sole, a better finished and possibly more durable article will be provided by forming the structure according to that illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawings. In this form of the invention, the

insole C' is split either in the forward area It,

the heel area I! or both these areas. However, it is important to note that the leather is left in one piece in the shank area and that the sole 'is only split up to the shank area so that the construction is, therefore, a very 'durable one.

Uponthe lower section ll of the split forward area of the sole an additional piece of material I! is-mounted in the same manner as applied in connection with the showing in Figure 3. The

, upper section It of the split forward area of the shoe is then returned to its normal position overlying the section II and it is secured to the section l1 and the additional piece of material I! by a suitable cement. This leaves the insole of practically the same appearance as if it had not been processed, while, on the other hand, apart from its advantages in appearance, the structure is more durable in that there is no direct contact between the foot and the additional piece of material l5. At the same time, the possibility of the section I8 being displaced due to the action of the foot of the wearer is largely avoided since the sole is left integral in the shank area [I and, therefore, the section I! is retained in position not only by the cement but also through its integral connection with the shank area.

In the case where the addition I6 is only to be made in the heel area of the shoe or where it is to be made in addition to an added piece of material on the forward area of the sole, the heel area of the sole is split to provide the lower section l9 and upper section 20, the splitting of the heel area of the sole extending up to the shank area II, as clearly illustrated in Figure 5.

The same remarks therefore apply to this construction as that described in connection with the forward area ID.

This split sole structure particularly lends itself 'to shoe. construction wherein deficiencies or weakness in the foot may be corrected as described or wherein additional support may be readily given to the arch. For instance, as indicated in dotted lines'in Figure 5, apart from the added material placed in the heel area of the shoe, an arch supporting pad may be positioned on a section [9 in the area of the arch to provide a built-in arch support for the shoe and the pad used may be varied to suit the amount of support required. Similarly, as illustrated in Figure 7, the supporting pad may be positioned on the section I! in the area of the metatarsal arch to provide a metatarsal arch support. This support may be varied according to the amount of support required and, when the upper section or sections of the split insole are returned to normal position and cemented there, the shoe embodies the required supports but has the general finished appearance of the ordinary shoe.

As described, it may be only necessary to split the insole in the heel area or in the forward area thereof but it will be seen that the insole can be readily split from both ends even though no support of any kind is placed upon one of the sections so that in fitting the shoe it would only be necessary for the retailer to upwardly turn one, of the cemented sections or both of these sections to apply a foot corrective pad or an additional material to meet the requirements of the wearer. This mode of fitting could be readily taken care of through the keeping of a stock of appropriate pads to be inserted in the shoes and the splitting of the insole in the manner described therefore permits the insertion of these additions at the time the shoe is being fitted, with the advantage that the section or sections of the insole lifted for the insertion of the pad may be immediately returned to normal position to retain the finished appearance of the shoe which is, in no way mutilated or made unsightly. a

The cross sections shown in the drawings illustrate the application of the invention to a welt shoe. However, it is quite apparent that the improvements described are equally as applicable to other types of shoes and it must be realized that the skiving or the placing upon the sole of wedge-shaped additions may be effected from the lower surface of the insole as well as the upper surface and therefore it should be understood that the invention had a wide application.

As clearly illustrated in Figures 2, 4, 6 and 9, it is readily apparent that the foot will be corrected from the interior of the shoe and from a shoe which has been initially constructed for such correction. It is obvious, therefore, that the invention will serve not only to ease the foot of the wearer but it will obviate consistent wear in certain areas of the shoe and will avoid the misshaping of the shoe due to wear in the sole and heel areas.

A further specific mode of applying the principle of the present invention, particularly in the case of a Goodyear welt shoe, is illustrated in Figure 8 wherein a wedge-shaped pad 20 is applied to the outer surface of the insole ID, the outer edge of the pad, which includes the thick portion of the wedge, abutting the lip 2| of the channel member employed in Goodyear welt shoe construction.

As illustrated in Figure 9 the thickened portion of the pad 20 abutting the lip 2 I, projects slightly above the edge of the lip, as at 22, and the remaining area of the outer surface of the insole between the lips of the channel member is filled with the usual filler 23, so that when the outsole is applied. -a similar result is obtained as in the case of the other methods of applying the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 6.

This form of structure also completely conceals the corrective wedge and in addition provides a construction of strengthened character, the pad being applicable to either side of the sole to throw the foot toward the inside or outside of the shoe as required.

In the case of the Goodyear turned construc-. tion a similar method would be followed inasmuch as the wedge-shaped pad 20 is applied to the inner surface of the outsole, the outer edge of the pad, which includes the thickened portion of the wedge, abutting the lip of the channel member.

The appended claim defines the invention as applied to an insole. It is to be understood, how-. ever, that this embraces the turned shoe construction wherein the wedge-shaped pads or thickened sole construction are applied to the inner side of the outsole, there being no insole in shoes of this construction.

Various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the claim and therefore the exact forms shown are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense and we desire'that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art or are specifically set forth in the appended claim.

We claim:

Improved shoe construction comprising in combination a" shoe constructed with a built in insole, said insole being split from-the toe and from the heel over an area up to the shank portion of the insole, to provide upper and lower sections, the shank of the insole being unitary, and individual wedge-shaped leather pads secured to the lower sections of the insole to provide thicknesses in the sole and heel area on one side of the shoe greater than the thickness on the opposite side forming a sloping surface terminating adjacent to the longitudinal centre lin of the sole, said upper sections being secured to overlie the lower sections and pads to provide a smooth sloping upper surface for the insole co-operating with the shoe construction to correct deficiencies of the foot.

ERIC MOORHOUSE SABISTON. THOMAS AUGUSTUS CHESTER. 

